Taimur Asad on April 8, 2010, 10:05 pm

iPhone OS 4 Announced for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Apple today has unveiled the new iPhone OS 4 firmware in a preview event, held at their 1-Infinite loop campus in Cupertino. This announcement added lots of new features for both users and developers. Here is a sneak peak at what the new version of OS is going to offer.

– Over 1500 new APIs; Devs can access the calendar, photo library, quicklook.
– A new framework called accelerate for hardware accelerated math functions.
– 100 new user features. Create playlists, 5x digital zoom, tap to focus on video, gift apps, geotagging, places in the photo app, change the home screen wallpaper, Bluetooth keyboards… spell checker.
– Support for Bluetooth Keyboards.
– Multitasking (Yes, Finally!)
– Background Audio
– VoIP (Voice Over IP)
– Background Locations
– More Privacy Features
– Local notifications (like Push Notifications but doesn’t use Apple’s servers)
– Folders to organize all the apps
– Customizable Wallpaper on Home screen
– Intelligent Naming
– Drag and drop UI for folders
– 2160 apps can now be installed on iPhone
– Unified Inbox
– iBooks for iPhone and iPod touch
– Support for multiple Exchange account with Exchange Server 2010
– Game Center (invite friends, matchmaking, leaderboards, achievements, social gaming network)
– iAd Mobile Advertising
– and more..

A “Developers Preview” version of iPhone OS 4 Beta is now available for download. The final version of iPhone OS 4 will debut with the next-gen iPhone at this year’s WWDC conference, which will be held some time in June/July this year.

iPhone OS 4 will be fully supported on iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 3rd gen. And, for iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen, they will run many things, but not multitasking. An iPad version of iPhone OS 4 is expected to be released this fall. [Image and Data via Engadget]